$100 in 1920 is worth $861 in 2000,
because prices increased 761.0% over that period, an average of
2.73% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$861
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
761.0%
Average inflation rate
2.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$861
Price difference ($100 base)
$761
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1920 → 2000
$861
$100 in 2000 → 1920
$11.61
What happened to prices between 1920 and 2000
Between 1920 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 761.0%, which works out to an average of
2.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2000: the 1920 dollar
lost 88.4% of its purchasing power over
these 80 years.
1920 was the last year of the inflation that had built since the war began:
consumer prices rose 15.6% for the year, leaving the CPI more than double its
1913 starting level after seven straight years of increases.
The boom behind those increases turned to bust before the year was over. The
Federal Reserve, worried about speculation, pushed its discount rate to a
record 7% that spring, and wholesale prices, which had led the wartime
runup, began collapsing within months. The National Bureau of Economic
Research dates the resulting downturn from January 1920 to July 1921, one of
the shortest but steepest contractions in U.S. history, and consumer prices
followed into outright decline, falling 10.5% in 1921. Two constitutional
changes reshaped the country that year, too. The 18th Amendment’s ban on
alcohol took legal effect January 17, enforced under the Volstead Act
Congress had passed the previous October. Then, on August 18, Tennessee’s
ratification of the 19th Amendment secured women’s right to vote nationwide,
and women cast ballots in a presidential election for the first time that
November, when Warren Harding won on a promise to return the country to
“normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic, and rising prices. First-class
postage held at 2 cents, unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1920 amount converts to 2000 at the same ratio, 8.61: $1,000 becomes
$8,610, and $10,000 becomes $86,100.
Amount in 1920
Value in 2000
$1.00
$8.61
$5.00
$43.05
$10.00
$86.10
$20.00
$172
$50.00
$431
$100
$861
$500
$4,305
$1,000
$8,610
$5,000
$43,050
$10,000
$86,100
$100,000
$861,000
$1,000,000
$8,610,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–2000
Between 1920 and 2000, food rose the most, up 699.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 200.7%, against 761.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.73%
$861
Food
2.63%
$799
Apparel
1.39%
$301
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1920: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1920 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–2000 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1920, at end
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$83.50
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$70.00
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$121
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$148
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$194
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$412
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$653
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$861
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $148 by
1960, on its way to $861 in 2000; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $861; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 2000: $100 is worth $861 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2000/